It is a pleasure to know that Russia
remains Armenia’s leading trade and economic partner. Last year, compared to 2013, our trade turnover increased significantly, but unfortunately, there has
been a reduction during the first 6 months of this year. This is also something
we will touch upon in our conversation today; there are some finer points there
that I don’t have ready answers for, and I would like to talk to you about it.

Our bilateral agenda is actually
quite intense with new initiatives being regularly added to it. Our regular
meetings make it possible to sum up work on the previous agreements and respond
to new developments.

The previous detailed discussion of our agenda took place in Yerevan, when you were taking part in events commemorating
100 years since the Armenian genocide; then we also had an exchange during the celebrations
in Moscow marking the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great
Patriotic War, and then in Ufa, of course.

Over this period, a number of issues
important for Armenia were resolved. I would like to thank you for handing the criminal case against serviceman Permyakov over to the Armenian justice. Thank
you very much.

At a meeting with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

Today we have signed an agreement
with the Energy Ministry to reduce the gas price by $25 down to $165. We also
signed an agreement on extending to Armenia a $200 million concessional loan,
which would make it possible to upgrade the Armenian armed forces’ arsenals. We
have also signed an agreement to modernise the Armenian nuclear power plant –
it has already come into effect and work has begun.

The launch of the Eurasian Economic
Union brought about new realities in our relations. A lot still needs to be
done to give concrete substance to this integration association and do some
real things for our peoples. We are ready for such work and we are interested
in a speedy implementation of the principle of free movement of goods, capital,
services and work force – this is very important for us.

Within this context, the price of energy resources remains a key issue for Armenia. In the current critical
situation currency fluctuations have a painful effect on the tariffs and I hope
that we would find new solutions, good solutions.

With President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

I would like to thank Russia and you
for your efforts to search for ways to resolve the Karabakh conflict. There has
been a lot of tension on the border over the past two weeks. Azerbaijan is using
artillery in addition to large-calibre guns. And we are forced to respond, this
is something I will speak about in detail at the CSTO summit in Dushanbe.